Dead Signal

A Silent Protocol Novel — Book 2

By: Shane Larson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The signal is dead. The surveillance is alive.

A journalist dies under suspicious circumstances. She leaves behind an encrypted drive and a name: Lattice.

In this electrifying sequel to Silent Protocol, the protagonist who dismantled an underground network discovers something far worse than illegal surveillance — legal surveillance. Lattice is not a rogue operation. It is a sanctioned system, built from corporate data brokers, government contracts, and the willing participation of billions of people who clicked "I Agree" without reading the fine print.

The dystopia is not coming. It is already here. And everyone signed up voluntarily.

Dead Signal is a cyberpunk thriller about what happens when the line between security and oppression is drawn by an algorithm — and nobody remembers who gave it the pen.

What draws readers in:

• A dead journalist's final message — an encrypted drive containing the architecture of legal mass surveillance
• The voluntary dystopia — a surveillance system that does not need to break the law because the law was rewritten to accommodate it
• Morally ambiguous choices — when the system is legal, sanctioned, and popular, what does resistance even look like?
• First-person noir voice — the same gritty, cynical narration that made Silent Protocol a page-turner
• Corporate espionage meets government overreach — data brokers, intelligence agencies, and tech companies operating in plain sight
• A resolution that does not flinch — no clean endings, no easy answers

Perfect for fans of:

• Daniel Suarez (Daemon, Freedom) — near-future tech thrillers grounded in real systems
• William Gibson (Neuromancer, The Peripheral) — noir-inflected cyberpunk with literary teeth
• Cory Doctorow (Little Brother, Attack Surface) — surveillance fiction that makes you rethink your browser history
• Michael Connelly — morally complex protagonists navigating corrupt systems
• Mr. Robot — the aesthetics of paranoia and the politics of information

Series Connection

Dead Signal is Book 2 in the Silent Protocol series. While it can be read as a standalone thriller, readers of Silent Protocol will find familiar characters, deeper lore, and the consequences of Book 1's events woven throughout.

Silent Protocol is available now on Amazon Kindle and Audible.A dead journalist. A legal surveillance machine. A choice with no right answer.

Dead Signal — the second novel in the Silent Protocol series. Available now on Kindle and free with Kindle Unlimited.